Savisaar : municipal police could help to get rid of taxi mafia

Toomas Hõbemägi

Mayor of Tallinn Edgar Savisaar believes that municipal police could help to stop the mafia-controlled taxi business in central Tallinn.

Eesti Päevaleht quoted Savisaar speaking at a radio show yesterday that the city government plans to set up a special department for checking taxis at the municipal police.

“The unit must be big enough to check 2,500 taxis driving around in Tallinn,” said the Mayor.

Savisaar added that city government has been working hard to come up with solutions to the problem.

“We are already developing a unified price list for taxis and plan to increase requirements for issuing a taxi license,” said Savisaar.

In early October, popular Estonian TV programme Pealtnägija claimed that the taxi business in central Tallinn was controlled by mafia.

Pealtnägija that embedded its own journalist among taxi drivers said that in the most attractive and popular areas of Tallinn Old Town and central Tallinn there were at least twelve areas controlled by mafia where only taxi drivers who pay mafia are allowed to wait for customers.

According to rumours, taxi drivers pay the highest fee to mafia for the right to wait on the square in front of Hollywood nightclub in the Old Town although there is officially no taxi stop on the square.

Taxi drivers themselves say that these areas are protected by mafia and “unauthorized” taxi drivers could easily have their tires punctured by mobsters or face mugging.

In one recent case, a Polish tourist who took a taxi in front of the Tallink Spa and Conference Hotel was charged 1,000 kroons for a 17 km trip to the Tallinn suburb.

Some taxi companies charge a passenger 144 kroons already for starting the engine.